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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAlvin Toffler, Author of 'Future Shock,' Dead at 87
Alvin Toffler, Author of 'Future Shock,' Dead at 87
Alvin Toffler, a guru of the post-industrial age whose million-selling "Future Shock" and other books anticipated the disruptions and transformations brought about by the rise of digital technology, has died. He was 87.
He died late Monday in his sleep at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, said Yvonne Merkel, a spokeswoman for his Reston, Virginia-based consulting firm, Toffler Associates.
One of the world's most famous "futurists," Toffler was far from alone in seeing the economy shift from manufacturing and mass production to a computerized and information-based model. But few were more effective at popularizing the concept, predicting the effects and assuring the public that the traumatic upheavals of modern times were part of a larger and more hopeful story.
"Future Shock," a term he first used in a 1965 magazine article, was how Toffler defined the growing feeling of anxiety brought on by the sense that life was changing at a bewildering and ever-accelerating pace. His book combined an understanding tone and page-turning urgency as he diagnosed contemporary trends and headlines, from war protests to the rising divorce rate, as symptoms of a historical cycle overturning every facet of life. "We must search out totally new ways to anchor ourselves, for all the old roots religion, nation, community, family, or profession are now shaking under the hurricane impact of the accelerative thrust," he wrote.
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http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/alvin-toffler-author-future-shock-dead-87-40235948
whopis01
(3,514 posts)MFM008
(19,808 posts)just kidding. Read it in college.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(49,001 posts)Odin2005
(53,521 posts)Look at all the people ranting about "globalism" and wanting to return to an idealized 1950s.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,001 posts)Coming down the pike very quickly are
* Artificial Intelligence (self-driving cars, auto-docs, auto-paralegals, robot senior care, ...)
* tailored personal genetic medicine
* climate change (with drought, flood, and famine)
* manufacturing & repair by 3D printing
I could think of more if I took more than 90 seconds to compose this post.
Prepare yourselves.